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Sunday, April 13, 2014

The Minority Council by Kate Griffin

It was the best of times, it was the
worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity.

Well, sort of. Take two dislikeable tropes, refrigerator females and the drug scourge,
and put them in the hands of a fine storyteller, set it a city with a
millennia of history, and fill it with fascinating characters,
particularly a reincarnated schizophrenic sorcerer, and you get
something pretty amazing with a little side helping of ambivalence.

The Minority Councilis the fourth (and last?) book in the Matthew Swift series; however, he does guest appearances in the Magicals Anonymous series. Charmingly, the next book, Stray Souls,
is hinted at in a couple of places. At any rate, Matthew Swift is a
former sorcerer, reincarnated along with the electric blue angels who
escaped from the phone lines. He becomes the reluctant hero, the
Midnight Mayor of the city, charged with protecting London from magical
destruction. Matthew, however, has a problem caring about the larger
issues, and does much better on the concrete, individual level. He only
ends up managing the Big Concerns when individuals he comes to care
about are affected. The Minority Council
doesn’t break this trend; in the first few pages, he meets Meena, a
magic user of stunning power, and when she calls him for help, he finds
himself involved in London’s underground magical drug trade. At the same
time, a local council worker, Nabeela, is trying to storm into the
Mayor’s office, intending to bring her cause to his attention. Little
does she know that the scuffily dressed man sneaking in the service
entrance is, in fact, the Mayor. She convinces Matthew he needs to see
one of the teen hooligans who has been somehow changed and the investigation gains momentum.

I continue to love Griffin’s voice. She
uses a first person narrative starring Matthew/the electric angels (he
switches from ‘I’ to ‘we’ regularly), which does fascinating things with
characterization. But it is the overall voice, a mixture of pensive and
resolute, wonderment and observant that I enjoy, a voice that perfectly
fits with Matthew’s split character. I found myself wondering if
Matthew the sorcerer is indeed ‘there’ at all, or if his personality is
merely the electric angels impersonating humanity. It could be because
I’ve been reading Richard K Morgan’s downloaded personalities, but I can’t help but see the electric angels as the same sort of phenomenon.

Then there’s the writing itself. Griffin
uses words well, specific, slightly unusual choices that highlight and
play with meaning. At times, shades of Douglas Adams. At times, flat out
great. “At first I hadn’t realised that
the voice had been addressed to me, but when I felt an expectation next
to me, I looked round, and there she stood.“

The overt plot of the book largely
surrounds the relationship between Matthew and his Alders. Having been
on the receiving end of the Alders’ willingness to use lethal force,
Matthew isn’t inclined to cut them any slack. Matthew sums up the
problems between himself and his Alders early on: “In
theory they serve the Midnight Mayor, soldiers in his army… They were
magical, they were dangerous, a lot of them were dabblers in high
finance, and if all of this wasn’t enough, they liked to wear black and
talk in short sentences to let you know just how mean they were. They
were the banes of my life and it was of only some small satisfaction to
think that we were, in our own quaint way, the bane of theirs.“

A note of levity was introduced with
Kelly, Matthew’s new Alder P.A. I’m afraid I’m becoming quite fond of
her, always dangerous in a Swift book. But she of the eternal optimism
made me laugh out loud when she points out: “‘You
say that, Mr. Mayor!’ she exclaimed. ‘But you say it in your special
brave voice and, you know, I’m really not sure if I can trust your
special brave voice these days because, if you don’t mind me saying so,
Mr. Mayor, there’s a very thin line between being brave and six months
of physiotherapy and liquid foods.‘”

My problems with the series are hard to describe. As much as I wish it wasn’t true, bookaneer’s observation of Griffin’s use of the refrigerator female
is sadly apparent. I admit to disappointment, particularly in a female
author who ought to be aware that she’s killing off most (all?) of the
strong women characters, good or bad. My other challenge centers around
Matthew’s naivete. This is book four in Matthew’s reincarnation, and I
started to feel like it is entirely too easy to use him as a cat’s paw
in a larger scheme. He may feel like he is an actor, but remains
largely an agent. Realizing that was one of the moments that made me
question whether a sorcerer of Swift’s knowledge and experience was
actually in the body at all, or if it was only the electric angels
believing they are Swift–what other excuse explains the simplistic way
they react with only shreds of intuition and little information?

However, Griffin does an excellent job
balancing the drama of the story with humorous touches, one reason the
series stands out among urban fantasy. There’s sophistication in the
moral issues, and it isn’t always entirely clear that Matthew is right,
however understandable his thirst for vengeance might be. The magic and
magical creatures continue to impress, updated to a modern recognizable
version–the magic of crime scene tape, bus passes, fairy dust, the
vestments of the homeless. Overall, highly recommended, but this is one
series I strongly suggest be read in order.

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